Superman III (DC Comics Movie Review)

Plot
Wealthy executive Ross Webster hires the bumbling but brilliant Gus Gorman to develop synthetic kryptonite, which yields some unexpected psychological effects for Superman. Between rekindling romance with his high school sweetheart and saving himself, Superman must contend with a powerful supercomputer.

Jason's Thoughts
Upon seeing the first five minutes of Superman III, I felt like I was going to be in for a long two hours.  The beginning of the movie featured the non-stop sight gags and lame attempts at comedy that made me dislike Superman II.  Once the opening credits concluded, though, Superman III started getting on the right track.

Don't get me wrong, the attempts at comedy were still present, but they were mostly contained within the confines of Richard Pryor's character, Gus Gorman.  Other than that, I feel the campiness only really reared its ugly head in the form of a video game where the bad guys were trying to fire missiles at Superman.

One really great aspect that I enjoyed with Superman III, aside from providing the plot device for one of the greatest comedies of all time, Office Space, was the portrayal of the dark Superman.  Due to an almost synthetic replica of kryptonite, Superman begins going down a downward spiral, and this part of the movie makes Superman III truly shine.  

Superman's decent into darkness, from blowing out the Olympic Torch to fixing the Leaning Tower of Pisa, is a lot of fun to watch.  It gives Superman an almost human quality (as he is technically an alien), with him down and out in a local dive bar drinking Johnny Walker Red Label.  It also shows how much the people of Metropolis have come dependent on him.  This leads to a memorable scene where Clark Kent fights himself, almost as if he was breaking himself out of a drug habit.

This alone doesn't make Superman III a great film, as there are a few things that brought it down a notch.  The lack of a true villain in this film leaves a lot to be desired.  Over the course of three films we went from Lex Luthor, to General Zod, to Ross Webster.  Webster is nothing more than a second rate Luthor who is more concerned by making money off of coffee beans instead of sinking the state of California.

Aside from lacking a worthy villain, Superman III was also hurt from the small roles given to Lois Lane and the rest of the staff of the Daily Planet.  The relationship between Superman and Lane were a huge part of the first two movies.  In Superman III, it was all but forgotten as Clark Kent found a new love interest at a Smallville High School reunion.  No mention of Lex Luthor, who also had a part in the previous two movies, is made either.

I'm sure I'm in the minority, but even with its flaws, I felt that Superman III was superior to Superman II.  The second installment had better villains and characters, but Superman III didn't seem to be nearly as disjointed as its predecessor.  Neither of them, though, can hold an Olympic Torch to the original Superman: The Movie.

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